"Shadow of Fear" is the 12th episode of ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor I ...

'', a British

Supermarionation Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...

television series created by

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

and

Sylvia Anderson Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In a ...

and filmed by their production company

Century 21 Productions AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...

. Written by

Tony Barwick Anthony Clive "Tony" Barwick (10 July 1934 – 18 August 1993)https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10182/biographical-summaries-of-notable-people?itemId=447240&action=showRecord was a British television scriptwriter who worked ex ...

and directed by Robert Lynn, it was first broadcast on 2 February 1968 on

ATV Midlands Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...

. Set in 2068, the series depicts a "

war of nerves War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

" between Earth and the

Mysteron The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials and the antagonists in the 1960s British Supermarionation science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967–68) and its 2005 computer-animated remake, ''Ge ...

s: a race of

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...

s with the power to create functioning copies of destroyed people or objects and use them to carry out acts of aggression against humanity. Earth is defended by a military organisation called Spectrum, whose top agent, Captain Scarlet, was killed by the Mysterons and replaced by a reconstruction that subsequently broke free of their control. Scarlet's double has a self-healing power that enables him to recover from injuries that would be fatal to anyone else, making him Spectrum's best asset in its fight against the Mysterons. In "Shadow of Fear", a Spectrum operation to obtain orbital reconnaissance of Mars is threatened when an astronomer is killed and reconstructed by the Mysterons. The episode is one of four that were subsequently re-edited and combined to make ''

Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars ''Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars'' is a 1981 television film based on the 1960s British puppet TV series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Produced by the New York office of the series' distributor, ...

'' (1981), a ''Captain Scarlet''

compilation film A compilation film, or compilation movie is a film composed of scenes and shots taken from two or more prior films and edited together so as to make a new film, whether on the same or a different subject. The most common example would be a docum ...

produced by the New York office of distributor

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

Plot

To learn more about the

s (voiced by

Donald Gray Donald Gray (born Eldred Owermann Tidbury, 3 March 1914 – 7 April 1978) was a South African actor, well known for his starring role in the British TV series '' Mark Saber'', for providing the voices of Colonel White, Captain Black and the M ...

), Spectrum have devised "Operation Sword", the objective of which is to land a spy probe on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

's moon Phobos in order to capture detailed images of the planet's surface. The first probe is detected and destroyed by the Mysterons but the second, ''Mini-Sat 5'', touches down safely and begins its orbital reconnaissance. Once Phobos has made a full orbit of Mars, the images will be transmitted to Earth, where they will be received at K14 Observatory in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. Captains Scarlet and

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

(voiced by Francis Matthews and

Ed Bishop George Victor Bishop (11 June 1932 – 8 June 2005), known professionally as Ed Bishop or sometimes Edward Bishop, was an American actor. He was known for playing Commander Ed Straker in ''UFO'', Captain Blue in ''Captain Scarlet and the Myste ...

) have been dispatched to K14 to observe astronomers Carter, Angelini and Breck. To the astronomers, the second probe was able to reach Phobos undetected by travelling in the "shadow of fear": "Phobos" – the name of a companion of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

– means "fear", and the probe avoided detection by approaching the moon from behind so that it would remain invisible to Mars. A few hours before transmission, Breck is viewing Mars through a telescope when the planet begins to flash brightly. Overcome by the dazzling light, he is killed and replaced by a Mysteron reconstruction. Knowing that K14's

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

will need to be rotated to receive the transmission, the reconstructed Breck plants a bomb in the rotation gear, rigging the device to explode when the gear is turned. He then hides in the rocks above the observatory. Aided by Melody Angel and Captain Grey (voiced by

and

Paul Maxwell Paul Maxwell (born Maxim Popovich; November 12, 1921December 19, 1991) was a Canadian actor who worked mostly in British cinema and television, in which he was usually cast as American characters. In terms of audience, his most notable role w ...

) in a Spectrum helicopter, Scarlet and Blue pursue and locate Breck. Revealing his sabotage, the reconstruction fires a gun at the officers but is shot dead by Scarlet. However, before Scarlet and Blue can warn K14, Carter and Angelini turn the antenna and the bomb explodes, causing the antenna to collapse and crush the observatory. With Carter and Angelini dead and K14 destroyed, Earth misses the probe's transmission. However,

Colonel White Colonel White is a character in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and its 2005 CGI remake, ''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet''. In both series, he is the commander-in-chief of Spectrum ...

(voiced by Donald Gray) insists that Operation Sword will go on.

Production

"Shadow of Fear" was the final episode of ''Captain Scarlet'' to be made featuring the voices of

and

Charles Tingwell Charles William Tingwell Member of the Order of Australia, AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of ...

, both of whom left the series after this episode. Tingwell had theatre commitments, while Maxwell had been cast as Steve Tanner in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. After "Shadow of Fear", the regular characters of Captain Grey and Doctor Fawn, who were voiced by Maxwell and Tingwell respectively, continued to appear in the series but only in a non-speaking capacity. Both Maxwell and Tingwell can be heard in the

clip show A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicte ...

series finale, "

The Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

", which includes a flashback to "

Big Ben Strikes Again "Big Ben Strikes Again" is the third episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Brian Burgess, it was first broadca ...

" with the two actors voicing background characters. (Tingwell's voice is also featured in flashbacks to the

first episode A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...

in "

Dangerous Rendezvous "Dangerous Rendezvous" is the 22nd episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by To ...

" and "

Traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

".) The

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

was performed by a group of 15 instrumentalists and recorded during a four-hour studio session held on 22 July 1967. Music for "

Fire at Rig 15 "Fire at Rig 15" is the 19th episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Bryan Cooper and directed by Ken Turner, it was first broadcast on 16 Fe ...

" was also recorded during this session.

Reception

According to Anthony Clark, as with "

Crater 101 "Crater 101" is the 21st episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by Tony Barwick ...

" and "

", the episode's pace "could hardly be described as breakneck." However, he adds that when grouped with these episodes, "Shadow of Fear" does serve to "progress Spectrum's fight back against the Mysterons". Shane M. Dallmann of ''

Video Watchdog ''Video Watchdog'' was a bimonthly, digest size film magazine published from 1990 to 2017 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas. Although devoted chiefly to the horror, science fiction, and fantasy ...

'' magazine calls the miniature model work "excellent" but also notes the violence of the episode, describing the story as "astonishingly downbeat". The

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

certifies the episode U, stating that it contains "infrequent, very mild" violence. Fred McNamara of '' Starburst'' magazine regards "Shadow of Fear" as a "key" episode of ''Captain Scarlet'' and one of eight "essential episodes" of

. Praising Lynn's direction, he writes that the episode "captures ''Captain Scarlet''s dark heart completely, offering a rare instance where the Mysterons succeed against Spectrum." In his book ''Spectrum is Indestructible'', he considers "Shadow of Fear" to be well paced with a "solid" script and "perfect" execution. He especially commends the depiction of Spectrum's powerlessness to avert disaster, as well as the editing of the shots showing the aftermath of K14's destruction. However, he finds it strange that despite being alluded to several times, "Operation Sword" is never actually explained, while subsequent episodes make no mention of it. He also sees White's closing statement as a "cheap shot at optimism" that comes across as "jarring" and unwelcome given the devastation and loss of life that have just occurred. Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett applaud the score, commenting that the use of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

makes the space scenes suitably "eerie". Musical cues from the episode were reused in ''

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

'', the Andersons' first live-action TV series.

References

External links

*
"Shadow of Fear"
at TheVervoid.com {{Captain Scarlet 1968 British television episodes Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes Fiction set on Phobos (moon) Himalayas in fiction

Plot

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links